Tim Sherwood’s masterstroke at Newcastle can propel Tottenham into top four

It was smiles all round for rampant Spurs at St James’ Park (Picture: Getty images)

As the team news from St James Park flashed around social media and forums alike, despair rang out as Spurs fans cast their eyes over Tim Sherwood’s latest selection.

‘Four centre midfielders?’ fans groaned. ‘What is he thinking?’

After numerous midfield partnerships and formations, it looked like an act of desperation to shoehorn the quartet of Paulinho, Nabil Bentaleb, Mousa Dembele and Etienne Capoue into such a seemingly unbalanced starting 11.

A bright opening ensued, a surprise in itself given the notoriously slow starts of Spurs under Sherwood, and when Bentaleb picked up the ball in the 19th minute, it got even better.

The 19-year-old shrugged off tackles before whipping in a ball for Emmanuel Adebayor to tap home at the far post. The rest was history.

The lack of a defensive midfielder in previous games had been a big concern, when the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City dominated Sherwood’s traditional 4-4-2, so Capoue’s addition was a breath of fresh air. The Frenchman’s work was ugly at times, but Bentaleb and Paulinho arguably had their best showings in Spurs’ shirt with the new found security behind them.

Driving on together from midfield, with Dembele providing support, the free flowing transitions from defence to attack were a joy to watch. The power of Dembele, the flair of Paulinho and composure of young Bentaleb – a perfect trio. While Adebayor floated between the lines and Lennon stretched the defence, was it a stroke of genius from Sherwood? Nobody saw it coming.

Looking good in attack, it has been the other end of the field that had been a notable downfall of Tottenham this season, a negative goal difference entering February told the story.

Younes Kaboul was making his comeback to the side, with Jan Vertonghen still getting back up to speed from injury, but you wouldn’t have guessed it. Helped by a couple of brilliant Hugo Lloris reflexe saves, the pairing ensured Spurs recorded their first away clean sheet in the league since November 3 at Goodison Park.

The performance was capped off with notable contributions off the bench from Andros Townsend and Nacer Chadli, who netted a whipping fourth for Spurs from 25 yards, just as it looked like energy levels were waning.

In a night full of promise, the challenge of an out of sorts Newcastle cant be overlooked, but there is no reason that Spurs can’t follow this up. Tottenham fielded a side blended with grit and guile that could challenge any team in the league.

While Liverpool looked shaky at Fulham, Sherwood could have found stability and success in a new system that will see the race for top four go to the wire.